Batman & Robin Book 2
by Zaraizabell
Summary: Three months ish after Batman & Robin Book 1. I'll try to update daily. Please R
1. Chapter 1

**In this story I break away from the movie's idea that R'as knew exactly who Bruce Wayne was while he was training him. I also carry on with calling Richard Grayson Rick. **

**The only characters I created in this story line is Helena Troy, Rick's social worker. Everyone else belongs to DC, though an author's note involves a well known line from somewhere else.**

**I also mess with the usual persona associated with almost all of the characters. I try to keep these stories PG or less, so please do the same with any comments.**

Batman and Robin

Book 2

I couldn't help but be nervous. Going to school for the first time was bad enough without the huge secret that was almost a physical presence on my shoulders. Then again, with how much wait the robin gear added to my backpack, it was.

I took a deep breath and got out of the back of one of the less noticeable cars that usually resided in Wayne Mansions ginormous garage. I knew that I was starting school a full week late. The last case Batman and I had worked on had assured that. It was easy enough to find an excuse for a still recently orphaned boy to start school late.

I forced back the tears at that last thought, knowing it would just set me up as a target for bullies. I slid a fake smile onto my face. It wouldn't have the same vibrancy that had gotten some of Batman's friends to laugh when they found out the little ball of joy was the sidekick to the least emotional man anyone had ever met. It had made Superman laugh even more when he had found out about the pajamas that I had gotten Alfred to buy me.

It was probably one of the best pranks I had ever pulled on Bruce. I wore them all the time. I still idolized Batman more then I ever would the man of steel.

The welcoming committee came over led by a girl with bright red hair that starkly contrasted her green eyes. She was cute. Even though I was just nine, I could tell that much. She managed to make the stupid school uniform look good. She said, "Welcome to Gotham Academy." Her confidence shown out, making my smile become legitimate. She continued, "My name is Barb. I take it you are Richard."

I corrected automatically, "Just Rick."

That seemed to mess with her a little. I took it that she didn't like being interrupted while monologing. That made doing it all the more fun. It made my real smile brighten a little more.

She said, "You've been put in fifth grade courses. I'll guide you to your classes."

Now I bet right now your thinking to yourself, 'wait, didn't he just say he's nine. That would put him in like third grade, fourth if he was a younger kid.' Apparently my test scores were high enough that I got to, more like had if you really asked me, go to fifth grade rather then third grade like I should have.

I said easily, "Thanks."

She obviously wanted to continue her monolog, but she was interrupted by the bell ringing. I let her lead the way inside, though I had memorized the blue prints of the school the night before in case I needed to escape quickly.

I knew I would be short. I just didn't realize that they stuck giants in along with the regular student body. If I hadn't been in training for the past three months, I might have been in trouble. Thankfully, I had, though if you listened closely you may have heard me say a few completely unfamiliar words under my breath. They weren't cuss words as most of you most likely immediately assumed. I was saying the names of obscure foreign breakfast foods. It was my version of cursing. Crapes worked well, since most people assumed they had heard me say something else. The man of steel had questioned, what with his super hearing and all, and I had explained that it was impossible to get punished for calling something the German name for eggs.

Barb led me to my locker, which turned out to be right next to hers. Since they were organized by last name, I could only assume hers was close to mine as the alphabet went.

She led me to the first class, and the only one I was dreading. I could show proficiency in math, science, social studies, English, or anything else, but Spanish was something I had to pretend not to know.

It was my own fault really. I had yelled at a couple of guys that only spoke Spanish. A cop had heard it along with a couple of citizens. It was only a matter of time before the news paper read, "Boy Wonder speaks Spanish". I figured it must have been a slow week. The problem way, I was fluent in Spanish. In the circus, during the winter, we had traveled internationally. Many of the countries we visited were Spanish speaking, so it would have been bad if I didn't learn how to speak it fluently. I was more comfortable with Russian and German, but Spanish had made it's way onto the 'Speaks Fluently' list that for some reason or other the social worker assigned my case kept. It might be because I would occasionally slip into another language by accident when I let my guard down. I did it on purpose occasionally to annoy Bruce.

The teacher, Mrs. Santos broke through my thoughts by saying, "We have a new student in class today. Lets give a warm welcome to Richard."

I corrected easily, "Just Rick." Immediately the whole class turned their attention to me. It was easy to pick out the look of a bully, a kind of measuring up as to whether or not they could take me (for the record they could never even approach my level, even after only three months of hand to hand combat training); from the popular kids, which was more like 'why did they stick this runt in our class'; from the geeks, 'I wonder if he'll be nice; to the loaners slightly curious, but still obvious lack of caring.

I was assigned a desk in the back corner of the room. I liked that due to the training I had received. It made it easy to keep an eye on everything, and see attacks coming before they hit. That training also let me dodge, with out showing the effort of dodging, the spit wads that were shot my way by the bullies.

Mr. Santos was talking about Spanish nouns. I slipped my wireless headphones into my ears. I figured the best use I had for the class would be brushing up on my lip reading techniques. The way he carefully articulated the words actually made it a bit more difficult, but I managed to figure out what he was saying before he wrote the word on the board.

I was sitting at my desk. I wished that the day would be more eventful, to take my mind off of my young ward. Most parents would wonder, 'will he make any friends' or 'will he be himself. I was busy wondering, 'will he make a mistake and reveal his identity,' and 'was it a mistake to have him enroll in classes with kids two years older then him?' I worried about the normal parents things to, but not as much. Rick was generally a likeable kid. He certainly managed to wrap Superman around his little finger. I sighed thinking about those Superman pajamas. I still couldn't be sure he had only gotten them to prank me, since he wore them every night. I pushed the thought from my head as Fox entered to give me a morning update of Wayne Enterprise's operations.

I was mad. Zucco's men had let the boy get away. It had been three months since then. Batman and Robin had taken down Zucco's entire organization during the course of that time. The boy hadn't resurfaced. There was nothing more to lure him out with. Zucco still had the man that had actually planted the small vials on the ropes, but he had no way of letting the boy know that.

Bruce Wayne had successfully taken the boy in without alerting the media. He had even blacklisted the boy, so that none of the media could touch him without getting sued. Of course, until some hacker found the blacklisting, no one would even know.

If the League of Shadows hadn't already have men within the school investigating another possible student, then I wouldn't have even known where he was attending.

Bruce Wayne reminded me of someone I had met years before. A man that had almost managed to take down the entire League by himself. I wanted to write it off, until I realized that Bruce Wayne had been missing until only a few months after that particular event had occurred. It was possible that Bruce Wayne had League training. That would make the mission even more difficult, but I was confident that the assassins could pull off the kidnapping of Richard Grayson. They might even take the other child we were investigating as a bonus.

It had been a fairly easy day after Spanish. Some of the classes required a bit more catching up then others. Current events was fun because all anyone would talk about was superheroes. They liked Batman and Robin if only because they were the protectors of Gotham. I sat quietly at the back of the class smiling, but concealing the knowing look that tried to show as well. I was glad to hear about last night's patrol, which I had already read from Batman's reports early that morning. It had taken my mind off of the upcoming school day.

Barb seemed to have the hots for Robin, which I had a hard time not laughing about. Once you got passed the projected confidence and bossiness, she was pretty nice. We were already becoming fast friends, even though she was a full two years my senior. I related well to people older then me. It came with the whole responsibility thing, which came with being a superhero. **(Author's note-this is me refusing to say with great power comes great responsibility. I like Marvel and all, but this is DC)**

It was finally lunch time, something my stomach had been begging for due to the fact that I skipped breakfast. I pulled my lunch box out of my locker.

Barb asked, "Do you want to sit with me and my friends?"

I shrugged and said, "Sure." Those green eyes were almost as convincing as mine, but only almost. I was pretty sure that in a battle to get an adult to due something, mine would win. Unless, the person happened to be Bruce. He would totally side with Barb. If only for some prank I had pulled on him previously in the week.

I followed her to the cafeteria, though was fairly confident that if you asked anyone, you would find them saying that they hadn't seen my making my way to the cafeteria. A little extra practice moving through the shadows never hut anyone, though it made for the most hilarious faces when you suddenly seemed to appear out of a shadow in the middle of a private conversation. It let me get a feel for what gossip was being spread about the new, incredibly young addition to the fifth grade class. I also heard a surprising amount about my alter ego. Some of the stuff I heard about my two identities almost made me beat some kids up, if I didn't know Bruce would ban me from patrol, and even possibly the gym, for a solid month. I made it to the lunch room without destroying anyone, and sat down next to Barb.

A tall blond boy came over and said to me, "Move it puny, that's my seat."

I saw the slightly frightened look in Barb's eye and said, "I'm pretty sure my friend here would disagree." I hadn't expected for violence to start so quickly, but I still could have avoided the sock to the gut. Unfortunately, it would have blown my secret identity, so instead I turned, so I wouldn't puke.

I got a bruised rib instead, but it was totally worth it. The kicks to the back were to. I didn't throw any of my own punches, but I made sure none of the damage the now grouped bullies did to me would hurt. I was just glad that I had managed to shift their attention from Barb. Bruce would write off any bruises as ones that occurred when I was Robin or in training as long as I protected my face.

Some teachers came over and forced the boys to leave me alone. I easily got up, one of the teachers asked if I wanted to go to the nurse, but I shook my head. I had gotten worse injuries on nights when we hadn't met anyone on patrol.

Barb said, "Thank you." When I sat back down.

I just shrugged.

I should have paid more attention to the two teachers behind us. I shouldn't have written them off as making sure no one else tried to beat me up. I should have listened to that paranoid thought that suggested they weren't regular teachers. These were the thoughts that ran through my head when the two teachers grabbed Barb and I from behind, and shoved guns into our sides. I managed to press the emergency button on my utility belt, which I had of course brought with me in honor of rule number one, 'Never I mean never leave your utility belt or wrist computer at home.' It was one rule I followed religiously.

The teacher holding me shoved something over my mouth, and I passed out after another couple of breaths.

Finally, the plan was coming together.

**I'll try to update this story within a week.**


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2

I woke up chained up. I had no idea why they hadn't bothered to search me, but I was glad they had skipped that step. It was easy enough to pick the lock chaining my legs to the floor. I examined the stone walls of my cell. I found the badly concealed video camera. I didn't unplug it immediately as most people would assume I would. I first jacked into it and connected my wrist computer to it's wireless network before smashing the camera. I also destroyed the much smaller one of the door.

They really should not have underestimated me. They would live to regret it. I would do everything in my power to make sure of that.

I got a call from Rick's school part of the way through Fox giving me the status update. I excused myself to pick up. If Fox hadn't known about my identity previous to that, he would have found out. I was to the Batman costume and down to the spare motorcycle I kept in a hidden section of the garage. I was out on the streets seconds later heading towards Robin's tracking signal, but it was already on a plane. I turned around and headed for the cave. The bat jet would be able to fly faster then any plane. I had just gotten to it when the signal blinked out over the Atlantic Ocean.

I grunted at the punch. I wouldn't give the guard the satisfaction of me actually crying out. Barb was being forced to watch this, since I had attempted to free her as well. They were trying to impress upon me that there was no hope, that I would never escape, that they would always win. The three months of training, and the man I had received the training from insisted otherwise. Even the Batman in my head told me to keep trying to escape and hope that Bruce found me.

They tried brainwashing me. It didn't work. They tried reverse psychology.

The thing they were going to try next scared me. They no longer cared to keep my mind intact. They just wanted a mindless drone, which the drug that was already in the needle would give them once it broke me. They didn't treat Barb the same way. I guess they planned on making me keep her in line once I was no longer in control.

I couldn't let that happen. I couldn't let them make me control her. During our time in captivity, my feelings for her had developed. She kept assuring me that Robin or her dad would save us, though she still joined me in my less crazy escape attempts. I guess, in a way, Robin was already trying to save her. I had managed to lock my wrist computer before my latest capture. That way I wouldn't be connected to the batcave in anyway if I was turned into a mindless drone. I had hidden my utility belt out side. I was just a rich kid, that happened to have a once awesome gadget on his wrist, that would soon be no better then a paper weight.

I was glad then that my dad had taught me how to retreat within myself. The first lash of the whip hurt. I would get twenty before they administered the drug that would make me no more then a body to be ordered around.

I had wanted Richard Grayson for his mind, but after his latest escape attempt, I had been forced to agree to administer the concentrated fear gas. His own body would turn him into a mindless drone, just to avoid more pain.

Bruce Wayne was trying every contact he had to find his missing ward. Commissioner Gordon had a surprisingly far reach as well. Unfortunately for the two men, I had hired the kidnappers through a contact that was then killed in an "accident."

I heard the boy on tape whisper, "gy may bows." I laughed. Even though he was in extreme pain he still refused to curse. Between lashes, he would smile weakly at the girl being forced to watch all of this. She was already crying. She would be doing more then that after watching him descend into madness.

Talia came in and said, "Bruce isn't returning my calls." She seemed extremely upset that he hadn't come to her for a shoulder to cry on. At one time the plan had been for them to get married. That plan had changed when Richard had turned up in his care.

She watched the video for a few seconds, laughing with me when more pastry names slipped out of the boys lips. He eventually switched to English having apparently run out of foreign breakfasts. Then he started rambling in Russian and German mashed together. He was telling himself a story to take his mind off of the lashes. I only understood the Russian, but it was obviously the story of Gotham's Dark Night showing up to rescue them.

The Dark Night would never find the boy. The increased crime rate in Gotham would make sure of that.

It hadn't taken much convincing to get Superman to help me. It had taken more for me to convince him that I needed him in Gotham, so that I could worry about finding my ward. His wrist computer was sending out a signal in the Himalayas, but I was really hoping it was wrong. It was much to close to a place I had already been. A place I had hoped had been destroyed in the explosion I had caused. A place that I never would have let Robin see, if I had had the chance to rescue him.

The League of Shadows may have my ward, my son?, my Robin. **(If anyone out there is thinking I am implying anything about the Batman/Robin relationship being anything, but father son/friends you are wrong. All stories with Batman and Robin I write will not include them being gay. I support anyone who is, but I don't think it fits with the Batman or Robin persona. If you want to complain, write a review. No seriously, some correspondence would be nice.)**

I recognized the concentrated fear gas. I didn't let it show in my face. I was, however, pledging to myself right then and there that I would do my best not to let the fear rule me. I froze the weak smile on my face, as I started battling my most terrifying inner demons. I didn't want Barb to realize that they had already started to turn me into the mindless minion they had threatened to make me.

That was, until Scarecrow walked in. I tried to tell myself that he couldn't be there. That he was locked away in Arkham Asylum. That was when the smile dropped. I didn't start screaming, but the smile was gone. Replaced by a blank expression that I had to force into place. I had to keep it there for Barb. If I didn't, then my fear might break her resolve.

I felt the sunglasses in my now tattered jean's pocket. They had been my mom's last gift to me, and they were the current object tying me to the physical world. They told me that Scarecrow's freakishly long fingers weren't really touching me.

I was surprised at how high Richard's fear tolerance was. Only a few months before, he had been afraid of swinging from the trapeze, and now he was witnessing the worst nightmares his mind could possibly conjure up, and after four days he still wasn't broken. That was okay. They now had pure fear gas to dose him with. It might kill him, but if it didn't, his mind would be to broken to take command any more.

I was trekking through the mountains. By my count, Richard had been taken ten days ago. It was taking longer then expected to get to the League of Shadow's headquarters. I couldn't fly the batjet in, since they would have seen, heard, and smelled me coming. As it was, I had already taken down three dozen lookouts and working on another. They weren't as well practiced as I was. It came with fighting for Gotham night after night, facing opponents who ranged from zero skill to hand to hand combat masters.

I gave the man an exceptionally hard punch, and he went down.

I pulled out my map, using the fire the man had built to warm myself. It would take me a few hours more to get to where I was guessing the Shadow's headquarters was. I stood up and trekked on, hoping beyond hope that I wasn't to late.

Every muscle in my body ached from holding myself in place. Barb had placed a cool cloth on my forehead, but in my minds eye she had looked like Joker tapping his sledge hammer on my head before swinging back to smash in my skull. That crazy gleam in his eye scared me the most in this scene. There was no Batman to stop in from smashing down this time. Only the fact that it wasn't real. It was getting harder to tell though. The nightmares were becoming more and more real as they upped the concentration of fear gas. Even I wasn't sure if I would break first or die.

**(Please review. I have a hard time coming up with all my own ideas, so offer some up for how the story should continue. I'm welcomed to ideas, but this is rated K, so please do the same in your comments. If you really feel a need, breakfast foods, foreign or otherwise are good.)**


	3. Chapter 3

_The sight of Helena Troy at the door always scared me. The very chance that. _Even in a dream I couldn't finish that thought. _She walked right up to me and started to drag me away. I yelled, "Bruce!" He just stood there watching her drag me away. I heard him say just loud enough for me to hear, "If you were a better Robin, I wouldn't have to do this."_

I escaped from the horrid nightmare to the awful reality that was my cell. The fear gas had caused the nightmares. I knew that, but it didn't leave me less shaken. Then the hallucinations started. Barb's form, standing to drip water into my mouth turned into Two-Face getting ready to kill me. The cloth in her hand the coin that would seal my fate.

I had to force myself not to move. Then I would have broken out of the chains and hurt her. I couldn't do that. The hallucination became more vivid as I was transported back to the warehouse where we had last faced him. There had been nothing I could do to save the judge's life, try as I might. Silent tears slipped down my face, but this time there was no Batman to tell me I had done everything I could. That you couldn't save everyone all the time, try as you might. Reminding me that I was human. There was no Batman there to comfort me.

I was distracted from watching the security camera for Richard's cell by the proximity alert. There stood the man that I had once thought would make a worthy successor. How had I not noticed the similarities between this man and Bruce Wayne. The answer was simple, Bruce Wayne walked like he had never fought a day in his life. He talked like he was a classic idiot billionaire. The man I had trained had been starving when he arrived. He had tactical know-how and could take on any number of well trained assassins. He walked like he could be one with the shadows in broad daylight.

I broke through the door with a solid kick. I had come here as Bruce Wayne, though I had arrived in the batjet. I didn't even go inside. You could still see the burn marks from the explosion. I did see the carefully written note that read, "Not quite. I suggest you look deeper in the mountains Bruce Wayne. Your ward is hidden much better then you thought." In front of the doors was Robin's wrist computer. They must have found it. I picked it up and prepared myself for a much longer hunt. I had to find Rick. I would find Rick.


	4. Chapter 4

**Sorry for the delay, it takes a lot of work to think up the next part of the story. I'm trying to make it more obvious when I switch perspectives.**

Chapter 4

Barb

I tried to keep Rick's temperature down. He was always burning up though, and they didn't give us much water. Every time he woke up, he would force that cute weak smile onto his face. I wondered how he managed to smile when it was obvious the injections they kept giving him as he slept were torturing him. I tried to stop them sometimes, and hid the bruises I received because of it. Rick had enough to deal with.

He was awake now, smiling that weak smile with an utter look of panic in his eye. I approached him slowly, and made him drink some of the soup they had given me hours before. It was cold, but he needed to eat. When he had been awake enough, he would give me almost all of the food. I had no idea how we had gotten so close to escape those times. The men always grabbed me first. I didn't see what Rick did after that, but it seemed for a while all the guards had more bruises.

I heard the tell tale turning of the key in the latch. That meant they planned on giving Rick his most recent injection while he was awake.

I guess they hadn't thought to restrain his legs when they were only coming in while he was sleeping.

Rick

My body ached all over, but it was my last chance to get us out. They wouldn't make the mistake of leaving my legs unchained again. I managed to free the keys and kick the guy in the face in the same move. Barb's shocked hands caught the keys and ran over to remove the chains from my wrists. We ran out of the door.

Something felt different this time, almost as if they had expected us to escape every other time, and this time they were caught completely off guard. We actually made it to the huge front door. I stole a bobby pin I noticed in Barb's hair and picked the lock. The cold hit hard, but we still ran out. I ran behind Barb on purpose, ready to fight back just in case. She slowed down, and slipped her arm under mine to help me run faster. We ran together, keeping close to stay warm.

I saw a cave in the rock walls, and ran over to it. Barb followed and we ducked inside. We stayed close together, attempting to stay warm. We only had to survive until someone, hopefully Bruce, found us. I just hoped my stupid plan would work.

Bruce

I now had no idea where Rick was other then the fact that he was somewhere in these mountains. He might still be in the League of Shadow's clutches, but he may have escaped somewhere along the way. I had to find him.

R'as

I was obviously mad. I punched the guard that had dared to report Richard's escape. He had been told to wait until the boy was asleep to give him injections, but he had stupidly defied orders. I said, "One month in the Hall of Punishment."

The guard bowed and walked out. It was likely he would not survive, but if he did he would be stronger for it. He would know not to defy orders again.

Barb

Rick was shivering worse then I was. I could tell whatever they had given him wasn't out of his system. His high temperature might save us both though, but the dehydration may kill him if I could start a fire to melt some of the snow. I had waited until nightfall to even try, as Rick had told just before he passed out. I finally coaxed the tiny pile of tinder I had managed to find to light. I had found a bowl shaped plant, that Rick claimed could be used to boil water. I set it next to the fire, filled it with snow, and hoped he was right. I brought Rick closer to the fire. He woke up just enough to help me before falling asleep once more.

I fed the fire the small amount of larger sticks I had managed to find. They were buried under layers of snow. Rick was saying something in his sleep, but it didn't sound like English. I was getting used to him almost constantly using other languages. I flashed back to the terrifying hour during which they had whipped him repeatedly. He had yelled out words in what seemed like every language. In the end, when they had left him hanging and finally allowed me to treat some of his wounds, he had spoken to himself in one language.

I was brought back to the present by a English word, "Batman".

Bruce

I could smell the smoke, but I couldn't find the assassins. I knew they had to be somewhere nearby. I could hear one of them talking. I saw light coming out of a nearby cave, and moved stealthily towards it. The scene that greeted me almost made me laugh and cry at the same time. I settled for making my appearance known.

The girl, Barbra, tried to fight me.

I stopped her surprisingly well aimed blows and said, "It's okay, I'm here to help."

Barbra stopped trying to attack me and took another look at me.

Then Rick woke up and said, "So I am crazy. Great, Barb, if what I'm seeing happens to somehow be real, don't kill him." With that out, he fell back asleep.

Barbra, Barb according to Rick, said, "I guess that settle it." She moved closer to the fire, attempting to get warm.

I went over to Rick and checked his temperature. He was burning up.

I asked Barb, "What happened?"

Barb said, "They kept giving him injections. I heard him refer to it once as fear gas, but I wasn't sure what he meant, since it was obviously a liquid."

I had to restrain myself from going back out there and killing every assassin I could find. I said quietly, "He's referring to a substance that causes the hormone giving you the feeling of fear to be released. It causes hallucinations of your worst fears, appearing to come alive."

Barb asked, "Will he be okay?"

I said, "He should be fine as soon as it works it's way out of his system. He'll probably have horribly vivid nightmares until then."

Rick muttered something in German in his sleep as if to make a point.

Rick

I woke up, forcing myself not to scream. The image of Joker pulling the trigger seemed to play again and again in my head. I was shaking. It was kind of cold, though there was a fire in front of me, and a body behind me. I saw Barb on the other side of the fire and looked back, scared that one of the assassins had somehow found us.

Instead, I saw Bruce.

**That's right, I'm leaving you hanging again. Hope you enjoyed the bits of Barb's POV I slipped in there. It's my first time writing from her point of view, so please tell me if I made any terrible mistakes.**


	5. Chapter 5

I could feel the fresh adrenalin pumping into my blood stream. I was ready to take down anyone that dared to attempt to separate me once more from my mentor. I gently shook Barb, and she almost screamed. I had to clap a hand over her mouth to prevent the sound from coming out. I put a finger to my lips and made sure she nodded before I removed my hand. I could tell she was scared. She could hear the assassins outside as well as I could.

Barb

Bruce and Rick kept exchanging looks that seemed to convey whole conversations. They were cleaning up our small campsite. There wasn't much to clean, but they were efficient in their movement. They stretched subtly, not making it obvious they were expecting a fight, probably for my sake.

I was worried about Rick. He seemed to be staying relatively calm, but he had that look of fear in his eye again. I avoided touching him, since that had proven to only make him freak out more. We stepped out of the cave with Bruce in the lead, and Rick falling into step behind me. The sun was just peaking over the mountains. We were still moving away from the fortress in which we had been held, and I could have sworn I saw some shadows moving. I was exhausted. I wasn't sure where Rick was finding stores of energy to exhaust.

I didn't want to break the silence that felt heavy on my shoulders. Rick seemed happier now that Bruce was here. I was sort of wondering if this really was the famous Gotham play boy. It didn't seem like it based on what my father had told me of him.

R'as

I yelled, "Why didn't you move in when you found them?"

The assassin replied calmly, if only because I would have become angrier with any other reaction, "There was another man with them. We've had a hard enough time bringing in Richard every time he escaped. We suspected that the new man had training as well. By my count we were out matched."

Talia asked, "Did you recognize the new man?"

The assassin said, "One of the men with me claimed he looked like a man that he had trained with years ago."

I said, "So it is Wayne. He managed to find the boy after his escape."

Talia asked, "What's our next move?"

I replied, "We should gather our forces and attack them."

Talia pointed out, "It's winter harsh weather training. Most of the men are hiding on purpose. They want to prove they can beat the current record of three months. Bruce will get out of the mountain before they return."

I said, "We'll need all of our forces if we want to take those two down. We can only assume that Bruce is even better then Rick, for all we know he's Gotham's Dark Knight."

The assassin asked, "Do you wish us to continue following them?"

I replied, "Yes, for now. Stay close to the boy. It will be a while before the fear gas has worked its way out of his system. He's more likely to blame any presence he senses on paranoia."

The assassin bowed and sunk into the shadows better than many of my operatives.

Bruce

I switched places with Rick, signaling him when we needed to turn. I knew he would do better knowing there was someone watching his back. Barb continued in the middle. She seemed to feel awkward, unsure of how Rick knew where he was going. She didn't see him look over his shoulder for direction at every cross rode.

I signaled for him to turn. I kept an eye on him. He seemed to be doing well, considering the massive amounts of fear gas pumping through his system. I saw the paranoid look in his eye though, telling me he was attempting to use it to see any of well concealed assassins we both knew would be on our tail.

Rick kept moving his left arm along the place his utility belt still somehow rested. I saw him take out some dark sunglasses that could actually be explained away due to the snow's sharp glare. I knew the real reason he pulled them out was because of his parents.

Rick

I forced myself not to flinch at the slight sound of Barb's foot sinking into the snow. Bruce was walking as silently as usual, so I was glad for the excuse to check over my shoulder at every possible turn, just to make sure I hadn't really dreamed his presence. I guess my paranoia encompassed my hallucinations as well.

I turned again at Bruce's signal. I didn't have to force a smile onto my face anymore. It was just naturally there now that Barb and I actually had a chance to survive.

We were heading for a large clearing that Bruce had found. He would signal the batjet from there, and we could go home. I was glad at the idea of heading home.

Barb

I could have sworn that shadow moved. That was my thought just before Rick pounced on it. The assassin, now laying on the ground out cold, had a radio in his hand. Rick picked it up, took it part of the way apart, removed something, and put it back together.

I was trying to not freak out about the fact that some guy had followed us. I was surprised at how calm Rick was. He actually seemed kind of proud of himself. That was weird. Most people would have freaked out even more that they had actually been right.

Rick was a strange kid. I had figured that much out the first time I heard him speak another language. I had figured that out when he forced himself to smile between the lashes of the whip. I had figured it out when he had forced himself not to freak out when they gave him fear gas. It seemed that Bruce was equally strange because he seemed proud of Rick as well.

R'as

I said, "He saw the tail."

The assassin stated, "I told my men to stay back, but one of them got cocky. He moved to close. The boy saw him and pounced."

I said, "Keep all of your men at least twenty yards away from now on. If any of them move closer, tell them they'll have me to answer to."

The assassin bowed and left.

Talia said, "Now they know we're watching.

I said, "No, they already knew we were watching. Now they have extra equipment and one of our radios."


	6. Chapter 6

**Just thought I'd mention that I love feed back.**

Chapter 6

I was glad the assassin had been real. I was worried the hallucinations were back. We had removed most of the assassin's equipment. I was listening in on the assassin's radio. They were speaking in Mandarin, which had been easy to pick up during the three quarters of the year we had toured there when I was three. People really need to broaden their horizons when they try to speak in a language I don't know. They most certainly shouldn't speak one of the most common second languages.

We were in the clearing, trying to stay warm while we waited for the batjet to arrive. I king of wondered what we would tell Barb. I saw another shadow move, but I forced myself to write it off as the wind. It was twenty yards away, so there was no way I could have recognized it as an assassin. That is until the same shadow made another unnatural movement when the wind died.

Bruce

Rick took down another assassin that I hadn't even noticed. He managed to cover the twenty yards between him and the assassin in less then two seconds using a series of flying leaps that left the assassin no time to get out of the way.

That was when the rest of the assassins came out of the wood works.

Barb

It was scary. Bruce and Rick were fighting. I was trying to use what little martial arts training I had, but I was no prodigy. I saw Rick working his way towards me, when someone lifted me into the air.

R'as

I was holding Barbra Gordon high enough for both Richard and Bruce Wayne to see. They finished taking down their opponents before they turned to face me.

I said, "Come quietly, or I'll kill the girl." Richard had a look of hate in his eye. He was supposed to have been under my control by now, attempting to please me at every turn. Instead, he had this look of pure hate directed towards me, as if I was the man that killed his parents, rather then the man I happened to be holding in my dungeon.

Rick said defiantly, "Not likely." That was when he rushed towards me.

Rick

Attacking R'as head on when he held onto the girl I may or may not be in love with would not have been my best plan, if that is Bruce hadn't made his way behind R'as while he was staring at me with the weirdest mixture of hate and longing. Bruce made the smallest of noises. Barb, still unconscious fell towards the ground, and I dived to catch her.

That was when the batjet showed up.

I fought my way to it, still carrying Barb. It's amazing how strong adrenalin can make you when you need it. I got Barb to the batjet, but when I turned to find Bruce, I saw him still fighting R'as. The scary thing was, they seemed evenly matched.

Bruce

I was fighting my old master in martial arts training. He was just as good as I remembered. We couldn't land a hit on each other. That was to be expected. The other assassins didn't help. They held one on one matches in high regarded between two well trained opponents. I was vaguely aware of the batjet entering the clearing and Rick getting Barb into it. I was very aware of the batjet breaking up our fight, lifting R'as into the air.

Rick

You know, piloting the batjet was easy after all the training sims I had done in case Bruce ever let me get a pilot's license. Picking up R'as without hurting him was a bit harder. Bruce hopped into the batjet and took the controls. I moved back to the small medical area it had on board, where I had put Barb.

Barb

I woke up in a hospital bed. I looked to my right, only to see Rick sleeping in the chair. I kind of wondered where my dad was.

He walked in, hugged me, and asked, "Do you remember anything that happened to you in the last three weeks?"

I replied, "Um, I sort of remember a couple of people dragging me and Rick into a van. Then it all gets fuzzy."

Dad said, "You were taken. Batman brought both of you back. Rick hasn't left your side since."

I smiled at the boy sleeping next to me. I seemed to remember him trying to protect me from something or someone. I reached up to touch my head and winced. I had a fairly large bump on the back of it.

Rick seemed to wake up then. He asked, "Are you alright?"

I nodded.

He let loose a bright smile that somehow made me feel happier. I had a feeling that smile had gotten me through something hard, but it was bright enough that it didn't matter.

Rick

I felt kind of bad lying to Barb. About three hundred men in the Himalayas knew Bruce Wayne was Batman, but I knew it was for her own protection. We were still good friends. She seemed to remember me having something to do with our escape.

We were friends. We watched each others' backs. I guess the experience had brought us together, though she didn't remember most of it.

I was laying in bed thinking about all of this, when the first rays of dawn shined through my window. A new day with new lies, but also with new truths. I had friends, I would go back to school today with Barb. Life would return to the closest thing to normal Bruce could provide. Richard Grayson by day, Robin by night.

**That's right, you get left hanging until I decide to make a book 3. Please review.**


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